Borussia Dortmund 0 Arsenal 1: This was meant to be the week the Gunners were found out. But they're top of the Premier League and setting the pace in Europe. It's time to take them seriously

Aaron Ramsey has scored 13 goals already this season. That alone takes some explaining. This, his fifth in European competition, requires more understanding than most.

It wasn't just against the run of play, but against all logic. Borussia Dortmund had been the best team on the night. Most observers make them among the finest teams in Europe. They won their previous Bundesliga game against mid-table Stuttgart 6-1. And before Ramsey's intervention after 63 minutes, Arsenal had not created a single goalscoring chance of note in the Westfalenstadion. In the immediate aftermath, however, so great was Dortmund's shock at going behind that Arsenal could have won by three or four.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch Arsene Wenger: Whole team has shown a huge solidarity

It was a brilliant result and a performance that shows the growing maturity of Arsene Wenger's side. Arsenal were subdued and unimpressive in the first-half, but kept the scores level, the way grown-ups do. They were resilient and soaked up Dortmund's pressure - and then they pounced as the Germans tired, the hallmark of the best teams in Europe. One chance, one goal, three points.

We have seen it done to English teams often enough, and admired the continentals for their ruthlessness. Had the scoreline and the performances been transposed we would right now be eulogising on the subject of German efficiency. So this was Arsenal playing an imported game, and playing it to perfection.

They waited, intelligently, for the Germans to get sloppy and made them pay. When possession was needlessly surrendered on the outskirts of the penalty area, Arsenal reacted quicker and the ball was in Dortmund's net. It is fair to say this was not the script envisaged by the luminous locals. A Dortmund goal had been, seemingly, a matter of time. For the lead to go to Arsenal silenced even the famous Yellow Wall. And Dortmund's defence came tumbling down.

It was that man again, too. Ramsey in excelsis. Thirteen goals to his name in 21 appearances - including two for Wales - making him a central midfield force in the style of Frank Lampard at his prolific best. ‘An unbelievable engine from box to box,’ said Wenger. Now where have we heard that before? And this was Lampard-like in its eye for the main chance.

Bravery: Ramsey sticks his head where it hurts to guide home the winner on Wednesday night

Sucker-punch: Ramsey bravely heads the ball to send Arsenal top of their Champions League group

Counter-attack: This Opta graphic shows the move that led to Ramsey's goal

MATCH STATS

A Mesut Ozil chip, a simple header onwards by Olivier Giroud, and there was Ramsey, sharper than Neven Subotic in the heart of Dortmund's back four to head the ball past goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller. It flopped, rather than flashed into the net, but no matter. Goals do not have to be great to count big - and this turned Champions League Group F on its head.

Dortmund were expected to win here, let's face it. With Napoli a good thing against Marseille, Arsenal were slated to go into the fifth group game trailing the top teams by three points and in jeopardy. Now they lead the table - a second table - from Napoli, who play Dortmund next. Depending on the outcome there, Arsenal could make their visit to Naples in December an irrelevance. It would be one hell of an achievement, given a draw that produced winces on the day it was announced.

Caught cold: Jurgen Klopp's Dortmund side are now in danger of not qualifying from the group stage

Yellow wall: Dortmund's world renowned fans were in full voice

On the ball: Wenger's counter-attacking tactics proved spot on against Dortmund on Wednesday

Arsenal's remaining fixtures:

Marseille (H), November 27Napoli (A), December 11

Dortmund had 15 goalscoring attempts to Arsenal's four, but this tournament is about nothing if not taking chances and Wenger's team are to be admired for their relative economy. Clearly, they rattled Dortmund and it is telling that all of Arsenal's scoring opportunities came after Ramsey had given them the lead.

Dortmund no doubt feared they had blown it by then and left spaces as they threw bodies forward. Arsenal's victory could have been all but confirmed minutes later when a cross from Ozil found, who else, but Ramsey in space in the penalty box. He brought the ball under control but Weidenfeller rushed out and saved with his legs. From the corner, Santi Cazorla whipped the ball in, Giroud met it and Nuri Sahin cleared off the line with Per Mertesacker almost converting in the resulting scramble.

Suddenly, Arsenal's conservatives became marauders. A Cazorla free-kick eluded the Dortmund defence only for Mertesacker to send his header over the bar. As limited as the first-half display had been, the Premier League leaders were now in the ascendancy. Having let Dortmund make the play, Arsenal were finishing stronger. Yes, they had needed Wojciech Szczesny to keep them in the game at the start of the second-half, but good goalkeeping is part of any rope-a-dope plan, too.

In the first 45 minutes Dortmund were wasteful and Henrikh Mkhitaryan missed arguably the best chance of the game, but they had found their range once play restarted and a header from Marco Reus which Szczesny seemed to keep out in slow motion was evidence that Arsenal were going to have to be at their defensive best in this brief period. Sure enough, moments later Szczesny made the save of the night one on one from Jakub Blaszczykowski, before Reus got the ball into the net from an offside position.

Heat map: This Opta graphic shows where Ramsey touched the ball during the match

RAMSEY BY NUMBERS:

11 Ramsey has 11 goals for Arsenal already this season. In his five previous seasons at the club, including two loan spells, he scored 12 goals.

1.6 The Welshman is averaging a goal every 1.6 games this season

1 This was the first headed goal Ramsey has scored this season

Dortmund's final desperate measure
came in the dying seconds of added time, when Robert Lewandowski got
acrobatic in the penalty area, only to end up on the ground courtesy of
Mertesacker. He claimed foul play, Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers was
having none of it. The home crowd howled its displeasure, the final
whistle blew instead and they slunk home chastened.

Arsenal
have now beaten what many claim are the best two teams in Europe -
Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund - away from home in the last
calendar year, but this was the pick of those performances. The Munich
match was a second leg in a tie that was as good as over; this game was
very much live, even if neither side could be knocked out. Dortmund are
vulnerable now, though - while Arsenal are providing answers to all
those pesky questions about their ability to stay the course.

Thumbs up: Arsenal youngster Benik Afobe (right) tweeted this picture of him watching the game back in London with the injured Jack Wilshere

Carded: Mikel Arteta is put into the book by Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers

This was, after all, the week that was going to expose their flaws. Liverpool, Dortmund and, on Sunday, Manchester United. With two down, one to go, Arsenal have recorded back-to-back victories - with three goals scored, none conceded. Ramsey grabs the headlines, but the contribution of Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny cannot be underestimated. They were quite exceptional, again.

Five points clear in the Premier League, setting the pace in Europe, this team demands to be taken seriously now.

Packing a punch: Ramsey and Ozil run over to the travelling support to celebrate

WESTFALENSTADION MATCH ZONEBY NEIL ASHTON

You can have Borussia Dortmund on toast… and that’s official. Dortmund supporters can buy a yellow and black toaster from the Fan Shop at the Westfalenstadion.

The toaster makes toast that pops up with ‘BVB’ embedded on the bread.

It’s one of the more unusual items for sale in the crowded club shop before games and it’s yours for €70.

Arsenal have always had a touch of class and Dortmund’s museum high up in the north stand at the Westfalenstadion provides another reason to admire them.

Before each Champions League fixture at the Emirates Arsenal present the visiting team with a solid silver cannon in a glass cabinet and mounted on a plinth with the date of the game and the opponents inscribed on it. Dortmund have happy memories of getting theirs last month: they won 2-1 at the Emirates.

Jurgen Klopp could rival Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane’s infamous tunnel stare-offs judging by the way he locked on to the Arsenal players during the warm-up. As his Dortmund team warmed up in front of the Sudtribune, Klopp was on the halfway line, arms folded, and fixing his glare at Wenger’s men.

Want to be a top manager like Jurgen Klopp? Here is his 10-point coaching philosophy to building a dream team just like Borussia Dortmund: Start with little or no money; Have a plan; Know your weaknesses; Think about the present and future, not the past; Find the right characters; Treat them right; Find a small number of multi-dimensional players; Spend if you have to spend and if you can afford it; Don’t overhaul the side too much; If at first you don’t succeed, try again. There. Easy.